Attitude adjustment
After more than 18 months of complications, insults and controversies, Nick Diaz is set to fight Georges St-Pierre.
By Scott Linesburgh
After more than 18 months of complications, insults and controversies, Nick Diaz is set to fight Georges St-Pierre.

Diaz, a Stockton native, is scheduled to challenge St-Pierre for the welterweight title at UFC 158 today at Bell Centre in Montreal. It is the main event of the pay-per-view card, and it's a long-awaited matchup between two men with vastly different fighting styles and personalities.

St-Pierre is the popular, respectable face of UFC who hasn't lost in almost six years and tends to wear down opponents with his technical skills. He fights out of Montreal, so the crowd will be overwhelmingly on his side.

Diaz is the challenger with an attitude who is coming off a suspension and trying for a shocking upset. He likes to throw plenty of shots - physically and verbally - and doesn't shy away from confrontation.

"Me and Georges St-Pierre, we're a lot different," Diaz said in one of the tamer moments of a recent conference call between the competitors.

The fight already has been postponed twice since October 2011, once when Diaz didn't fulfill media obligations, and a second time because St-Pierre suffered a knee injury. Diaz was suspended for testing positive for marijuana after losing a close decision to Carlos Condit on Feb. 4, 2012, for the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship in St-Pierre's absence. The suspension ended in February.

In the days before the fight, there was more controversy after Diaz did not participate in a media workout Wednesday. He did show up for the press conference Thursday and claimed he was catching up on his rest when he missed the workout.

Despite everything, UFC president Dana White proclaimed he was confident there won't be a problem on fight night.

"When I made this title fight, I knew what I was getting into with Nick Diaz," White told mmaweekly.com. "I don't think Nick Diaz is a bad guy. He has never been in trouble in his life. He has no police record; he has none of that. He's a martial artist. He's everything that he says he is, it's just that he's got this ... Call it unique personality."

The clash in personalities between challenger and champion has led to animosity. During the heated conference call Diaz called his opponent "pampered," questioned his fighting style and whether it's what fans want to see compared to Diaz's more aggressive approach,

"I'm here to fight because people know what they want to see," Diaz said. "They want to see real skill level. ... They don't want to see five minutes of holding."

St-Pierre also tossed around insults, calling Diaz an "uneducated fool." The champion could have fought No. 1 contender Johnny Hendricks or opted for a big-payday superfight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

But he wanted Diaz.

"There's been a lot of talk about who I should fight next, but this was really the only choice for me," St-Pierre said when the fight was announced. "He's made it personal and I personally can't wait."

Diaz, 29, has to find a way to beat a man who has won 10 fights in a row and 16 of 17. St-Pierre's last loss was to Matt Sera on April 7, 2007.

Diaz did the majority of his training at his local gym, Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Lodi, which is named after his manager. Cesar Gracie said his fighter is ready for whatever St-Pierre tries to do.

"Nick should be taken seriously as a mixed martial artist. I'm hopeful he'll pull this out, because then he should get the respect he deserves," Gracie said. "We all know what (St-Pierre) has accomplished, but I feel good going into this."

Diaz is on the longest layoff of his professional career - 13 months. He had won 11 in a row before the loss to Condit.